Growing up, is a simple, yet complicated process in life. There are many events we encounter in life. Being the youngest child of my family, and being 10 and 12 years apart from my siblings, I always had some interesting advice-giving sessions with the people around me. It's definitely hard to decipher which advice I would consider to be the best, but I have had many great pieces of advice that stand out to me.

I wouldn't say some of the best pieces of advice were the cliche "stay in school and get a good education," "don't do drugs and drink," or "don't be bad-mouthed," although these are all great words of wisdom, and all I have taken to heart. I would have to say one of the best pieces of advice I have ever gotten would be from my older sister Patty.

Like many college students, I only go home very few times each year and when I do I like to spend my time with my family. On one of my visits home, Patty asked me if I wanted to go to Sanger, California with her, of course I joined her as I hadn't seen her in months. On this particular day, I was upset, you know about college stuff and about a few insecurities I had been dealing with at the time. We are a Christian-faith-based family, and Patty began to talk to me about God, which is always a conversation we get into, nothing out of the ordinary. I told her I didn't understand God's plan, that it felt like God was taking his sweet time with my life.

She said that I was blessed, that I shouldn't have to worry about anything, because God was in control. She advised me to learn how to use my voice, for those who know me personally, I naturally have a very loud voice, so loud that sometimes I am insecure to speak. Anyway, Patty has a naturally loud voice as well, and she told me that having that loud voice was a gift from God.

Patty told me that is was OK to speak up. She proceeded to to tell me there will be times when people will not like what I say, and times people will disagree. But it was all going to be OK, she told me. Patty mentioned I will hit those road bumps, but it was a part of using that special gift. I realized I had a loud voice, but in a good way. The voice God had given me was meant to be used for truth. It was meant to be used to help those whom may not be able to speak as loud as I can and to be able to speak when I had the opportunity. She allowed me to realize that my voice was important.

Many of us need to learn how to use our voices because they carry importance.